


i was born in an electrical storm

by orphan_account



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Bechdel Test Pass, Coffee Shops, F/M, Female Character of Color, Female Protagonist, Gen, Motherhood, Pan Pacific Hot Moms
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-22
Updated: 2014-01-22
Packaged: 2018-01-09 16:41:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1148322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"A toast," she raised her half-caf soy milk mocha frappé and tapped it against Alison's plain black  coffee. "To a new friendship."</p>
            </blockquote>





	i was born in an electrical storm

Vanessa Gottlieb was down right intimidating. 

This was supposed to be a casual coffee date while the boys, plus Mako (God bless that girl for willingly hanging out with all of them) , watched boxing and drank beer or whatever else they did when their wives weren't around. Of course, apparently no one had bothered to tell Vanessa that, or maybe casual was not in her model nature. She arrived in the shop in one smooth sleek line. Her hair looked recently relaxed and was twisted into a neat knot above her right shoulder. Her dress was a beautiful pale yellow that stood out beautifully against her caramel colored skin. It dipped and hugged all the right places. Despite the fact that her daughter was only three months old, any evidence of extra weight was gone. Her shoes were a pristine white and based on the red soles probably cost more than Alison's car.

Well over six feet tall in those shoes, she absolutely commanded the entire room. Three young businessmen who probably came to San Francisco to make a fortune in rebuilding huddled in the corner, eyes trained on her, practicality salivating. Vanessa noticed them almost immediately as she started towards Alison's booth. She offered them a dazzling smiles before carefully smoothing down her hair with her left hand. Even in the warm dim lighting of the coffee shop, her incredibly well endowed wedding ring dazzled. The men stared at her for only a moment more before going back to their tablets. 

Damn, this girl was smooth. 

"Ugh." Vanessa groaned as she slid into the booth. "Men. Darling, you must know how it is."

Alison looked down at her old Nike shorts that still had grease stains in them and faded pink tank top from her high school powder puff football game. A stubborn roll of extra baby fat hung around her hips. Her blonde highlights were in need of a good touch up. Oh yeah, the men were just flocking to her. She had to beat them back with a stick. Tendo could barely stand it. 

"Oh, but before you continue, dear, I have to apologize for coming like this. I know you said casual, but I just couldn't resist. Ever since Ada was born and Hermann insisted I join him on the 'We Saved the Bloody Planet World Tour', I barely ever get to get properly dressed let alone go out. You don't know how excited I was to come with you tonight." Vanessa gushed. She smoothed out the skirt of dressed and smiled serenely. 

"Enough about me though. What about you? You and Tendo are absolutely precious. How did you two meet?" She continued. 

"God bless the PPDC." Alison carefully crossed herself before breaking into a wide grin. Vanessa laughed gently and offered a small, "Amen!" of her own. "I was a Munitions officer at the same time he arrived on the scene. We were both stationed in Alaska together. I actually had a boyfriend at the time, but he asked me to go to town with him, just as friends or whatever. But, well, the rest is history. We got married here in San Francisco back when it was still Ground Zero. He went back to work. I was decommissioned or whatever. We had a beautiful baby boy, Yancy-"

"Yancy?"

Alison giggled. "Uh, yeah. You know Raleigh? His older brother's name was Yancy. He and Tendo were really close. Yancy was a really good guy. I miss him a lot. Plus it's a lot better than his other choice."

"My God, what was it?" Vanessa drumed her acrylic nails, perfectly done, against the magonagy table in anticipation. 

"Tendo Jr."

Vanessa started laughing and Alison was quick to join in. The group of businessmen who were fawning over Vanessa a few minutes ago were now staring them down over empty mugs of coffee. Alison flashed them her middle finger. Chipped red nail polish glinted in the light. The men snapped their cases over their tablets and headed out the door. Vanessa laughed even harder. 

"Oh God if you think that's bad, let me tell you about this," chuckled Vanessa. "My daughter had just been born, and God, I was exhausted. I looked awful. All I wanted to do was hold my baby and go to sleep for the next forty years. Hermann, though, he was practically buzzing."

Vanessa cleared her throat dramatically and clasped her hand over her chest. 

"Darling." Her voice had deepened and gained a degree of pretentiousness. Alison giggled. "Oh, Vanessa darling, I have the perfect name. Ada! After Ada Lovelace, an English mathaticain and the mother of modern computer programing! Insert math mumbo jumbo here, or whatever."

Her voice returned to normal. "Can you believe it. I was so adamant about naming her after his sister. Karla is such a lovely name, and his sister is a peach. You'll have to meet her sometime. You'd love her. Anyway, he pounced when I was exhausted. Sneaky little sod, he is . Though at least it wasn't Hermann Jr. or something."

"No offense, but you two seem so different. How did you meet?" Alison asked, eying the large diamond on Vanessa's left ring finger.

"Oh, no offense taken," smiled Vanessa. "I get it all the time. It's really quite boring. I was spending a few months in Berlin for a project. I broke my ankle and ended up going to the same physical therapy place that he'd been going for his MS for years. We didn't actually talk much. Exchanged pleasantries about the weather. He was impressed with my German which I can assure you isn't that good. It wasn't until we ended up sitting next to each other on a plane. I was going home and he was going to a conference. Like you said earlier, the rest was history. "

"You know what I just realized?" Alison asked. "We don't have an coffee. What do you want?"

Vanessa rose to protest. 

"Sit back down," Alison flashed a twenty. "You're a guest in my hometown. I got it. "

Vanessa promptly sat back down. She fished through a pocket in her skirt and handed Alison a scrap of paper. "I always have to write my order down. I can never remember it anymore. Mommy brain, I guess."

"Mmm, tell me about it. I wouldn't remember my head if it wasn't attached. Anyway, I'll be back in a jiffy."

True to her word, Alison returned quickly with two mugs in her hand. She carefully slide them unto to the table. Vanessa grabbed hers and raised it.

"A toast," she said tapping her half caf soy milk mocha frappé against Alison's plain black coffee. "To a new friendship."

"New friendship!"

The two women drank deeply and sat in a comfortable silence. 

"What do you know about Doctor 'Call-Me-Newt' Geiszler?" Vanessa looked over the top of her mug.

"Newt?" Alison stopped drinking. "Newt's a great guy. We went through training at the same time. New kid oretantion at the same dome in Lima was a blast. He and Tendo are good friends. Yancy adores him more than anything. Loves the tattoos more than he likes either of ours. Why?"

Vanessa shrugged. "I never had a problem with him, but God, Hermann. Almost every single email was about how much he despised him. I get to meet the man finally after the world is final and then, bam, they're best friends. I'm absolutely baffled."

Alison placed her mug on the table. "I wasn't there, but Tendo told me some of what happened. That day we won, wasn't a good day. Lots of people died. Good people, even. Whatever happened between Hermann and Newt was apparently some really weird shit." 

It was Alison turn to shrug. "I don't know, but I adore your hair. It's so thick. I'm so jealous. Mine is always so knotty."

"Oh my God, that's nonsense. I'd kill someone for extensions like your hair. It's absolutely stunning. Are you South Asian?"

"Thank God you didn't ask me if I was Indian. I'm Bangladeshi and no one understands. Oh and this one, 'I'm from San Fran' and they're like-"  
Alison shook her head. 

"Where are you really from?!" Vanessa giggled.

"Girl, you know what I mean." Alison patted Vanessa's hand sympathetically. "Oh, it's the worst."

"Rude arse white people. I can't, honesty, I really can't."

"You know, " Alison gulped the rest of her coffee. "We need to do this again."

Vanessa nodded fervently and laced her fingers through her friend's. "I couldn't agree more."

Maybe Vanessa Gottlieb wasn't that intimidating after all,

**Author's Note:**

> hot dads are hella great but, man oh man alive, hot moms are important. 
> 
> also alison and vanessa speak truly of the woc experience. oh and it's the worst when you're white passing like me and you're with your non white parent and everyone is like 'is that your real parent?? ?' hard knock life.


End file.
